String quartets shine in Mimir festival performances

By SCOTT CANTRELL / The Dallas Morning News
scantrell@dallasnews.com

FORT WORTH – Saturday evening's Mimir Chamber Music Festival concert, at Texas Christian University's PepsiCo Recital Hall, included top-notch performances of two great 20th-century string quartets.

One of the most ingratiating of Shostakovich's 15 quartets, No. 7 moves from delicate little dance to poignant lament to a diabolical dither.

It got a riveting performance from violinists Akiko Tarumoto and Stephen Rose, violist Kirsten Docter and cellist Brant Taylor.

Apart from a slightly soggy announcement of the opening three-note motif, this was music-making of laser- chiseled precision, but with expressive "give," too.

Hearing a no less gripping account of Sibelius' Voces Intimae Quartet (in D minor, Op. 56), one could only wonder why so compelling a piece is so rarely performed. Few would immediately guess the composer, although it echoes his symphonies' motoric busyness and grand rhetorical gestures.

The players here were Mr. Rose, Nathan Cole, Ms. Docter and Mr. Taylor. Unisons, octaves and surprising chords were tuned with startling precision. Virtuoso writing was coordinated with virtuoso assurance. Contrasts of tension and (relative) repose registered with visceral impact.

Mozart's own piano-quintet arrangement of his C major Piano Concerto, K. 415, had the thoroughly professional services of pianist John Novacek, Curt Thompson, Ms. Tarumoto, Ms. Docter and Mr. Taylor.

Mr. Novacek's expressive face recorded the music's every harmonic surprise, and when unaccompanied he daringly – and deliciously – stretched and contracted rhythms.

The music's wit, even mischief, was nicely highlighted. But there were also patches where the performers settled for "mere" professionalism.

PLAN YOUR LIFE The Mimir Chamber Music Festival continues with concerts at 3 p.m. today and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Friday at PepsiCo Recital Hall, Texas Christian University, University and Cantey. $25; discounts for students, seniors. 817-257-5443, www.mimirfestival.org.